tonight on "nightline." behind closed doors. the story behind that secretly recorded tape of presidential nominee mitt romney telling his big money donors what he thinks of nearly half of american voters. tonight, who recorded it and why? secret princes. the world's most eligible royal bachelors moving to america and going under cover in the name of romance, but can they ditch their wealth, titles and servants and still find true love? plus, airline food disasters, from mystery meats to soggy vegetables to creepy eggs. we bring you the in-flight meals hall of shame. >> from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden, and bill weir

in new york city. this is "nightline." september 18th, 2012. good evening, i'm terry moran. a political firestorm rages on tonight over the secretly recorded tape where republican presidential nominee mitt romney is shown making controversial off the cuff remarks about nearly half of american voters. while the debate swirls, romney believed he was speaking privately to wealthy supporters, someone in that room had secretly pushed the record button. but who was it and why? abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross has been searching for the answers. >> reporter: the setting was this mansion in boca raton, florida, the home of a longtime supporter and friend, multi millionaire investor known as a private equity party boy in the gossip pages, mark leader. it was may 17th. reporters were told the event would be closed to the press. >> too bad you can't go to the fundraisers. >> reporter: the dinner was

lavishly catered and supposed to be private. limited to those who paid $50,000 each to hear and dine with mitt romney. but someone placed a camera in the room. secretly recording former governor romney from what appears to be a bar off to the side and later provided the tape to "mother jones" magazine which will not disclose the identity of the photographer. >> it did not come from opposition researchers or political campaign. >> reporter: occasionally the camera angle is adjusted, a wine decanter moved out of the way. at one point the waitress gives the bartender an order. the camera rolled for 49 1/2 minutes as romney delivered the candid remarks that four months later would make headlines, including the dismissal of 47% who support present obama in response to a question from the audience. >> there are 47% who are with him who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe

that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitle the to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it, that that's an entitlement and government should give it to them, and they will vote for this president no matter what. >> reporter: a joke, that he would have a better chance of winning if his father had been mexican. >> if i had been worn of mexican parents i would have a better chance of winning this thing. >> reporter: and insight into ann romney. >> use ann sparingly so people don't get tired of her. >> reporter: today romney went on fox news to talk about what the network called a dust-up. >> we were talking about a campaign. and how he's going to get close to half the vote, i'm going to get half the vote, approximately, i hope. >> reporter: the secret romney tapes became the top story of the day. >> now republicans and democrats are debating the fallout from the tapes. >> reporter: a huge distraction for the republicans and a coup for the democrats and back story how and why the tapes were made

and then worked their way through the media provides a rare look at an increasingly common political tactic. >> i think one of the most influential developments in campaigns over the last ten years is the viral video that catches a candidate, again, in these unscripted moments. >> reporter: the romney tapes were first posted online on youtube on may 31st. two weeks after the speech by a new user with the account romneyexposed. democratic party operatives began to take notice in august. including those who work in the research center war room who monitor every word romney and running mate paul ryan say. looking for a possible slip-up. >> one uploads to yub tube, one person sees it, sends it to four, five other people who tweet it out. next thing you know you have millions of people seeing them. >> reporter: late in august. "mother jones" magazine was put

in touch with the person who recorded the videotapes. the contact made by former president jimmy carter's grandson. he told nbc the source of the tapes was not one of the donors who gave $50,000. >> i think it's probably fair to assume that. >> reporter: it was the editors of "mother jones" who realized the potential impact of the now infamous 47% clip which had gone previously unnoticed. >> my job is not to worry about those people. i'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility. >> once we had the full tape which was several weeks ago. it jumped out at us immediately. >> reporter: governor romney is hardly the first politician to be picked up with remarks not intended to be public. republicans scored a similar coup four years ago when a blogger caught candidate obama on tape at a private fund-raising event, talking about members of the conservative right. >> it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like

them as a way to explain their frustrations. >> the thing that candidates have to worry about is that, you know, every -- every event that they're at, there's no such thing as off the record anymore. these are moments that campaigns live for. certainly in this instance, mitt romney provided democrats with a gold mine of rhetoric. >> reporter: under florida law, it is a crime, a felony to secretly record someone who has a reasonable expectation that they are not being recorded but many say anyone running for president should always expect that they may be recorded by someone, somehow. terry? >> absolutely, thanks, brian, for that report. "good morning america" will stay on this story. they'll have the latest in the morning. next up, you'll meet the royal bachelors going under cover in america on a quest to find true love. [ female announcer ] the next generation of investing technology

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prince william may be taken, but his brother, harry, isn't the only royal on the market right now. in fact, four bachelors from noble families across the world have gone under cover here in the u.s. posing as average joes in the pursuit of true love. but without a castle or all of that cash, can these pampered princes handle life as an american common here? here's abc's linsey davis. >> reporter: it's every girl's dream to find her prince. the reality is there's quite a few out there. not just william and harry. these guys modern day royty. >> i am a prince in france.

i would be second in line to be king. >> mine go back hundreds of years. the original holder was henry viii. a few people have heard of him. >> that's the henry viii, former king of england. and this is prince francisco of spain, the honorable watson of and his highness, prince babi of india. all royals who come to america looking for love. >> i think american girls would suit me better, because they seem more outgoing and more relaxed. on the streets of london, lord rob is highly recognizable. in addition to his lineage, he's also an underwear model who graced covers of several international magazines. >> a lost people say come on, look at you. you have no problems finding a woman. >> you'll make me blush.

>> when i go out i enjoy flirting with woman, i enjoy getting numbers but when it comes to finding that right one, that real special one that you can't stop thinking about. you want to do everything together. it's really tough. >> reporter: here's the catch, they're going under cover, not telling anyone about their royal blood lines. they left behind their servants and lavish life stiles for a chance to find something they say they can't find at home. women who love them for who they truly are, not for their riches or their titles. >> i have close to 50 servants in the garden palace. >> sir, where can one go to find nice women here? >> you have to go out and look. they ain't going to fall in your lap. >> reporter: in the movie "coming to america" eddie murphy played a prince trying to do the same thing. finding an unassuming women to marry without disclosing his royal blood line. >> you have women all over europe, you never know if they want to be a princess or

duchess. it takes a while to let somebody come close to you. so these four royals moved in together to work, cook, clean, and date, all while slumming it in this rundown bachelor pad in atlanta. the guys, stars of tlc's new reality show, secret princes, have learned to appreciate the luxuries they took for granted back home. >> the palace is about 70 rooms in all. i lost count. >> what's been the biggest adjustment coming to the palace in. >> probably my staff. back home i get my glass of milk. >> you don't get the glass of milk yourself. somebody gets it for you? >> they aren't expected to get a wife for yourself let alone a glass of milk. falling in love is why they're all here. it's just they have to do it fast. otherwise they may go home to an arranged marriage.

>> what make us think you want to get marry. >> reporter: which is why speed dating is so important. >> i'm stephanie. nice to meet you. >> reporter: in some cases they're competing against each other. >> slightly annoying when you're talking to a girl and rob comes in. it can be kind of frustrating. >> reporter: but for lord rob, finding his ladyship isn't exact easy, now that he's busting tables and cleaning windows for minimum wage. >> does this give you a greater appreciation for people who clean and staff? >> for the most part when i come up here myself and do the cleaning, it gives you time to sort of think. >> sal's job had him thinking twice about the whole concept of work. but the real objective here isn't to get their hands dirty ty but to take a woman's hand in marriage. but will it work? when cisco took my hand it was just to embarrass me on the dance floor. in their quest to find love and

achieve their fairy tale ending, it seems no one is off the radar. >> i am. >> oh, yeah, things about to get very awesome. you are about to have a neat day. >> we'll stop the cameras here. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm linsey davis in atlanta. >> we'll tell you how that goes. it premieres friday on tlc. good luck to linsey. coming up. something r soggy, down right mysterious, the worst airline meals in the skies next. fee. hatch a design. kill the design. design something totally original. do it again. that's good. kick out the committees. call in the engineers. call in the car guys. call in the nerds. build a prototype. mold it. shape it. love it. give it 40 mpg. no, 41. give it a huge display. give it a starting price under 16 grand. take it to the car shows. get a celebrity endorser. he's perfect. "i am?" yes, you are. making a groundbreaking car. it's that easy.

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from bland chick ton stale pastries. it's probably fair to say airline food earned its status as comediecomedy's most consist punch line. while inflight fare can be disappointing. some meals so bad, they make you feel twice before lowering that tray table. here's abc's david wright. >> reporter: when you're running the modern travel gauntlet, hurried and grobed in the name of national security, the ultimate insult is edible or not. served up hot, if you're lucky, in a foil container in a plastic tray. looking probably tasty, like toxic sludge. >> what is that green stuff? >> that looks disgusting. that looks worse than gatorade. >> today we sat down with cat

o'dell, editor of eater l.a., to check out the website airline meals.net. 26,000 photos taken by passengers on 600 airlines worldwide. >> i don't even know what this is. gray meat? what is that? >> whitish, grayish. >> reporter: a moscow passenger said the salmon that was served appeared to be as old as his grandma. >> maybe the even is to drink. >> that's always the best way to go. always, definitely. >> reporter: ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. oh, for the glamourous days of pan am. when passengers dressed like don draper and meals were refined. if only modern airline food were as stanley kubrick imagined it in 2001 "space odyssey" the only

thing kubrick got right was 2012, the food in those foil containers -- >> what is that chicken? >> something like that. >> reporter: there's little resemblance to anything you might find on planet earth. >> this is serious, airline food is the grown-up equivalent of a school lunch. >> reporter: and of course we pay for the nose for the privilege, according to a new survey released this week, that packet of sprinkles comes at 495% mark-up, enough to make you wish gordon ramsey would sort them out. >> i want to know now between you two muppets what the [ bleep ] are you doing? >> the airlines are well aware of complaints from frequent flyers like anthony bore dane a of the travel channel.

and the next iron chef. >> its in-flight menu, alas that's for business class. >> burghers at best. yes. exactly. our he on your own. o'dell said the best option for those condemned to fly in economy is likely to be carry-on. >> tsa lets you get away with it? >> as long as there's no liquids. >> the trend setter there, hannibal lekter. >> and that? >> that, i couldn't think you would like. >> probably true, too of the mystery meat they're cooking up in the gally, with or without a fine kchianti to wash it down. i'm david wright in los angeles. thanks for david for that. thanks for watching abc news. check in for "good morning america," sam champion will have the latest on the severe weather racking the east coast. always online at